Trunk Ports

Private VLAN Ports

Private VLANs (PVLANs) are used to segregate Layer 2 ISP traffic and convey it to a single router interface. PVLANs achieve device isolation by applying Layer 2 forwarding constraints that allow end devices to share the same IP subnet while being Layer 2 isolated. In turn, the use of larger subnets reduces address management overhead. Three separate port designations are used. Each has its own unique set of rules that regulate the ability of each connected endpoint to communicate with other connected endpoints within the same private VLAN domain.

Virtual Ethernet Interfaces

Virtual Ethernet (vEthernet or vEth) interfaces are logical interfaces. Each vEthernet interface corresponds to a switch interface that is connected to a virtual port. The interface types are as follows:

•VM (interfaces connected to VM NICs)

•Service console

•vmkernel

vEthernet interfaces are created on the Cisco Nexus 1000V to represent virtual ports in use on the distributed virtual switch.

Management Interface

You can use the management Ethernet interface to connect the device to a network for remote management using a Telnet client, the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), or other management agents. For more information on the management interface, see theCisco Nexus 1000V Getting Started Guide, Release 4.2(1)SV1(5.1).

Port Channel Interfaces

A port channel is a logical interface that aggregates multiple physical interfaces. You can bundle up to eight individual links to physical ports into a port channel to improve bandwidth and redundancy. You can also use port channeling to load balance traffic across these channeled physical interfaces. For more information about port channel interfaces, see Chapter 5 "Configuring Port Channels."

VEM Management of LACP

You can offload operation of the LACP protocol from the VSM to the VEMs. This prevents a situation where LACP cannot be negotiated with the upstream switch when the VEM is disconnected from the VSM (referred to as headless mode). VEM management of LACP allows the re-establishment of port channels after the reboot of a headless VEM.

Simplifying Interface Configuration with Port Profiles

A port profile is a mechanism for simplifying interface configuration. You can configure a port profile, and then assign it to multiple interfaces to give them all the same configuration. Changes to the port profile are propagated to the configuration of any interface that is assigned to it.

Note We do not recommend that you override port profile configurations by making changes to the assigned interface configurations. Only make configuration changes to interfaces to quickly test a change or to disable a port.